1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to lithographic chemical shrink processes, and more specifically, to improvements to lithographic chemical shrink processes.
2. Related Art
During the fabrication of a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC), contact holes (i.e., openings) are typically formed in a dielectric layer and then filled with metal (e.g., copper) to provide electric accesses to devices of the IC underneath the dielectric layer. In one conventional method, these contact holes can be formed using a traditional photolithographic process. As the contact holes become smaller and smaller in size with, for example, successive technology generations, there is a need for improvements to the traditional photolithographic process for printing (i.e., creating) smaller contact holes.
Therefore, there is a need for contact hole printing processes that allow printing contact holes relatively smaller than those of the prior art.